Eating Mechanics
Unlike the Squirrel and Chipmunk that can hold food in its front paws and spin the food in circles to devour it quickly, the Desert Cottontail, like all Cottontails, can only use its nose to move and adjust the position of the food that it places in front of its front paws on the ground. Cottontails will turn the food with its nose to find the cleanest part of the vegetation (free of sand and uneatable parts) to begin its meal. The only time a cottontail uses its front paws to enable eating, is when vegetation is above its head on a living plant. The Cottontail will lift its paw to bend the branch to bring the food within reach.
Read more about this topic: Desert Cottontail
Famous quotes containing the words eating and/or mechanics:
“Taking food alone tends to make one hard and coarse. Those accustomed to it must lead a Spartan life if they are not to go downhill. Hermits have observed, if for only this reason, a frugal diet. For it is only in company that eating is done justice; food must be divided and distributed if it is to be well received.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“It is only the impossible that is possible for God. He has given over the possible to the mechanics of matter and the autonomy of his creatures.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)